“Each of us knows that the foundation of our faith is charity. Without it, our religion would crumble. We will never be truly Catholic unless we conform our entire lives to the two commandments that are the essence of the Catholic faith: to love the Lord, our God, with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.” — Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Love our neighbor? Oh, how we did just that this week. But not just the Fab Five. Thanks to all of the St. Michael parishioners who gave their time, talent and treasure and to those who worked tirelessly to make this trip happen. It certainly would not have happened without you. The gifts, medicine, blankets, games, books, etc…all were so much appreciated by the girls, the elderly, the nuns, and the pregnant women. It was like Christmas in June.

On this final day of our trip, we spent the morning with the elderly. We hosted a birthday fiesta for everyone. We celebrated with cake, juice, music and balloons. We gave them Divine Mercy cards and picture frames with different pictures of Jesus, Mary and the saints. This led to Crescensio (the most spiritual elder of the group) reciting songs, bible verses and acting out the Baptism of Jesus. No words can describe how beautiful it was and how charming he was. He also makes us laugh more than anyone, especially when trying to pronounce names. Today he said to me, “I remember you, Tito. Is Hector your brother?” I literally cried from laughing so hard. There have been too many of these to share, but I will let it be known that the elderly have much to gives us!

Then we ate our final lunch with the nuns at elderly house. SOR’s Miriam, Rosario, Catalina and Rosa made another fabulous lunch. We’ve shared many laughs, and a few tears, with them this week. Their hospitality was fantastico.

From there, we spent the rest of the day with the girls. We mostly just talked and laughed with each other. And wrote a lot of goodbye letters. At the conclusion of the night, the girls put on a presentaion of dances. Amazing talent to along with their amazing personalities. I have to say, for me personally, it was a very emotional night for me. These girls have made such a significant impact on all of our lives. I know this is not goodbye, but just hasta luego.

This week has given all of us so many fruits of the Holy Spirit, most notably love, joy, gentleness, kindness, generosity, faith, and modesty. They call these trips, service or mission trips. But it’s not service when you love doing something for those you love.

Until we meet again, we will keep a piece of these girls and the elderly with us…in our hearts and our minds and our prayers.